Free The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Really, I don’t see how any girl could be unhappy here. But
what do I find?” His eyes became opaque. “I find you mooning over another man!
And who is this man?”
    I tried to gather my strength but he kept
advancing.
    “My own cousin, that’s who! Oh, it’s bad enough
that he had to outshine me in life but even in death . . .  ” As
Lim Tian Ching said the word death , I noticed
something strange. His figure blurred for an instant, but it was merely a
flicker, for he continued, “Tian Bai has to compete with me. Don’t think I
didn’t know you were promised to him! That was one of the first things I
discovered after I saw you at the Dragon Boat Festival. Imagine how I felt when
I found out that there was some kind of prior arrangement with him.” An
expression of distaste crossed his face.
    “Why him, of all people? My mother said it had been
arranged because your family was poor and they didn’t want his marriage to
outshine mine. Well, I told her, why did you have to pick such a girl for him
and she said she had no idea; no one had ever seen you.” His face suffused with
color, like a fat schoolboy complaining about the theft of his sweets.
    “You should forget about me,” I said. “I’m not
worthy of your family.”
    “That’s for me to decide. Although I commend your
modesty.” He bestowed a smile on me again. “My dear, I’m willing to overlook
your momentary weakness. After all, you did throw it away.”
    “Throw what away?”
    “That clock, that watch. I hate those things,” he
muttered. “When I saw that, I knew that you couldn’t possibly be interested in
him. Now, Li Lan, shall we drink to our union?” Lim Tian Ching held out a wine
cup in a grotesque parody of a wedding toast.
    “How is it even possible? After all, you’re
dead.”
    He winced. “Please don’t mention it. But I suppose
you have a right to know. There will be a ceremony. I’ve already instructed my
father as to how it must be held. You’ll have a magnificent wedding, everything
a girl might want. There’ll be bride presents and jewelry, even a kingfisher
feather headdress, if you want. We’ll send a sedan chair and a band of musicians
to your house, though a rooster will ride with you instead of me.”
    I shuddered at this image, but he pressed on,
pleased with himself. “For the actual ceremony, you’ll exchange bridal cups with
my soul tablet in front of the altar. Then after the formal marriage, you’ll
enter the Lim household as my wife. You’ll have all the material things that you
need. My mother will take care of it. And every night we shall be together.” He
stopped and gave me a roguish smile.
    Despite my terror, I felt a slow burning in my
stomach. Why should I be married to this autocratic buffoon, alive or dead?
    “I don’t think so.”
    “What?”
    “I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I don’t want to marry
you!”
    Lim Tian Ching’s eyes narrowed into slits. Despite
my bold words, my heart quailed. “You don’t have a choice in this matter. I’ll
ruin your father.”
    “Then I’ll become a nun.”
    “You don’t know the extent of my influence! I’ll
haunt you; I’ll haunt your father; I’ll haunt that meddling amah of yours.” He
was raging now. “The border officials are on my side, and they said I have a
right to you!”
    “Well, you are dead! Dead, dead, dead!” I
shrieked.
    With each iteration of the word his figure began to
shiver and shake. The opulent hall with its hundreds of red candles wavered and
began to disappear. The last glimpse I had was of Lim Tian Ching’s face
dissolving, his form smearing as though a giant hand was rubbing it out.
    I was
very ill after this experience. Amah found me lying on the floor, curled up like
a crayfish without a shell. The doctor looked at my tongue, felt my pulse, and
shook his head gravely. He had said he had rarely seen a case of someone so
young with so little qi , or life force. It was as
though someone had drained me of